22/09/2004 00:00
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News desk BRITISH Members of Parliament Peter Bottomley and his wife Virginia will be giving a talk for Conservatives Abroad on the weekend of October 22/23. Peter Bottomley was born in 1944 and educated in Washington DC, Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge. An industrial economist, he worked as a lorry driver and in industrial sales and industrial relations before being elected to Parliament in June 1975, the first by-election win under Margaret Thatcher's leadership.



He was president of the Conservative Trade Unionists from 1978 to 1980 and his special intersts include family policy and foreign relations.
In the 1997 general election, he was elected Member of Parliament for Worthing West, West Sussex and prior to that he served as Secretary of various Parliamentary Committees, and as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Rt Hon Normal Fowler, Secretary of State for Social Services.

In June 1997, he was appointed to serve on the Select Committee on Standards and Privileges.
Virginia Bottomley was born in Dunoon in Scotland and holds a BA in Sociology at the University of Essex and an MSc in Social Work and Administration at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

She has been an MP for Surrey South West since 1984. She was the longest serving Secretary of State for National Heritage 1995-97, Secretary of State for Health from April 1992 to July 1995 and Secretary of State for National Heritage from 1995 to 1997.

She also has considerable experience as Parliamentary Private Secretary (to Chris Patten and Sir Geoffrey Howe) and has served as Minister at the Department of the Environment and Health.

Prior to entering Parliament, she was a researcher for the Child Poverty Action Group between 1971 and 1973, and a psychiatric social worker from 1974-84. She was also a magistrate in inner London from 1975 and Chairman of Lambeth Juvenile Court between 1981-84.

She is a Governor of the Ditcheley Foundation and of the London School of Economics.
The Bottomleys' wide range of interests and experience in the field of politics guarantees that the talk will be a lively and interesting affair.
Further details as to time and venue will be confirmed at a later date.